


Of Dragons and Damsels

by 222Ravens



Category: White Collar
Genre: Epistolary, F/M, Goodbyes, St George & the Dragon, post-Judgment Day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-03-30
Updated: 2012-03-30
Packaged: 2017-11-02 18:09:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 982
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/371865
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/222Ravens/pseuds/222Ravens
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sara goes looking in Neal's apartment after he runs, and finds something he left behind for her. Oneshot.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Of Dragons and Damsels

A week after Caffrey disappears, Sara lets herself into his apartment, just to look. It's already been searched thoroughly by the marshals, and the FBI, and most things hauled away for evidence, but she does so anyway. 

 

The painting with the alcove behind it hangs open, and there is a strange quiet to the place, bare as it is of so many of Neal's things. No notes on case files, no half finished paintings. No bottles of wine, either. Not even empty ones, the ones that were always being abandoned on the counter by Mozzie the perpetual finisher of unwatched vintages. He disappeared at the same time Neal did, of course. She wasn't surprised. She had known all along; if Neal was going to run, it would be with Mozzie. 

 

Even some of the CDs are missing, and Neal's computer, and a few of his very favourite suits. She half smiles at that. Even going on the run, Caffrey needed his suits. Typical. 

 

June is out for the day, pulled in for Bureau questioning, something Sara herself had already been subjected to earlier in the week, twice. Kramer, predictably, had refused to believe that Sara didn't know Neal's whereabouts. The second time had taken four hours in the interrogation room and the arrival of her Sterling Bosch supplied lawyer before she had gotten out of there.

 

She told him how much Neal loved Europe, especially Italy. She also suggested Hong Kong or Shanghai, for the class and high fashion and the Chinese art market. She told him his favourite aliases, including one or two the Bureau didn't know about. She even told Kramer that she suspected Neal would be making one final score, a big heist to raise enough money to disappear for good. There had to be grains of truth, things that were plausible enough to lead him down the wrong path. 

 

Things she _didn't_ mention included the hula doll, and the impeccable fake passport she had found all that time ago, the one with the alias Victor Moreau. She was reasonably sure he still had it, but didn't tell Kramer. She certainly hadn't told him that she suspected Mozzie had kept a portion of the U-boat treasure. 

 

If he couldn't find Neal on his own, Kramer didn't deserve to catch him.

 

Sara continues looking, riffles through drawers on a whim, moving nothing, taking nothing, finding nothing. There is a stillness to the flat, and emptiness that unnerves and saddens her. He won't be back.

 

With a sigh, she turns to leave, but catches herself, remembering something. The walk in closet had a viewing window in it, and a secret wine rack. It occurred to her it might contain other secrets, ones worth looking at.

 

She returns to the closet, and looks a little more thoroughly. The US Marshals missed it, but they lacked subtly.  It took barely ten minutes, before a wall panel pops out, and Sara has a sharp intake of breath.

 

It's a copy of the recovered Raphael, on canvas, carefully framed, signed near the bottom with the initials NC. Only it isn't, it's different. The damsel in the background is missing, and the knight is a little changed in the features, more delicate, with longer hair, the face turned more towards the observer.

 

With a start, she realizes who the knight depicts. It's _her._ Neal painted the knight as Sara. Her heart squeezes in her chest as she flips the frame over, and undoes the backing. A piece of paper slips out, and she picks it with trembling fingers. It's his handwriting.

 

_Sara,_

__

_I used to love this painting because it reminded me of Kate and me. My middle name is George, did you know that? I thought, despite myself, that if I could somehow be her knight, slay her dragons, that she'd stay, that she'd love me more._

__

_I'm still not sure how much of what Kate and I had was_ _hoping_ _, and how much of it was real. I'm still not sure how much of a damsel she was, or if I ever really knew her as well as I thought I did._

__

_I'll never really know her part was in everything that happened, to us. Though I think, hope, that she still really did care in the end, I know she wasn't the innocent I wanted her to be, and that I have largely myself to blame for that. I loved her, and I miss her, but I've moved past it. I'm not the same man that fell in love with her, and it took me awhile, but I'm starting to realize that._

__

_Alex was more of a dragon. Beautiful, dangerous, wonderful, but not someone you can build something with. Too fiery to really love._

__

_I don't know about you, Sara, or how things might have been, but I know that you don't need me to fight your dragons, and I respect you for that._

__

_If anything, you've fought off more of_ my _dragons than I yours. You always... I have to thank you for that, and so very, very much more._

__

_Tell Peter and Elizabeth thank you, for_ _everything_ _, from me. Tell Elizabeth Mozzie says sorry for missing Gin rummy. Don't worry, that's not code for anything._

__

_I left them notes as well, but I think Peter'd like to hear it from you, as well. He always did root for us to work things out._

__

_I think you've had enough apologies and excuses from conmen in your lifetime, so I'm not sure how much this is worth, but if it's worth anything, I think I was falling for you, and I wish things could have ended differently. I'm sure Mozzie has a relevant quote somewhere about one's past interfering with one's present, but I'd rather just write my own words this time._

__

_So, from my heart, and wishing I could be,_

__

_Yours,_

_Neal_

_  
_

**Author's Note:**

> First fic on AO3, so slightly nervous, even if it's just an edited and expanded version of something I previously posted on fanfiction.net... (in case it looks familiar to anyone)
> 
> I know a lot of people aren't big Sara/Neal fans, but I've always thought they had a lot going for them as a pairing, so hope you like it. It's a oneshot, and I'm not planning on writing more unless I get a really good idea, sorry guys!
> 
> Please read and review!


End file.
